It's no secret that garages can have a reputation as untrustworthy and if you pick the wrong one, you’ll end up with a 

This isn’t the case with most garages. Most are reputable businesses and supply excellent service, but how do you tell the good guys from the bad? 

We've put together a handy guide so you’re in the know. 

How good is the advisors’ knowledge? Have they explained everything in detail? When you’re being advised of the required work, you should be confident you know what you’re paying for. 

If you’re not, ask questions. What does that part do? Why does it need to be replaced? What are the consequences of not replacing it? 

A representative of a good, reputable garage will be well-trained and ready to answer any questions you have. 

Possibly the easiest thing you can do is check the garage’s reviews. Garage owners know that reviews are key to keeping customers walking through the door. 

Word-of-mouth is heavily relied upon in the automotive industry and garages know this. A dependable site will supply the best service possible to ensure their reviews are positive. 

Check their star rating and find out what other customers think. Make sure to check further back than the last month to get the full picture, but if the majority of their reviews are 4 to 5 stars you can be confident you’re dealing with a trustworthy repairer. 

Garages are required to display certificates and insurance for customers to read. If you can see their certificates in plain sight they should be trustworthy. 

Although not the sole indicator of a reliable garage, but are they manufacturer-approved? 

 or Volkswagen franchisees? You can check this on the 

Remember most garages are happy to give a free quote for your vehicle. If you’re not happy with the quote, or you’re not happy with the service provided. Go somewhere else and get a second opinion. Don't agree to work if you’re not confident in them completing. 

 with Bumper and see 1000s of dependable garages and dealerships for

Enter your details to apply to spread the cost of your vehicle maintenance into interest-free monthly instalments. 

Bumper’s guide to choosing a reputable garage

 has integrated with Tjekvik’s on-site dealer self-service solution to offer a secure and seamless remote payment option for customers. 

Customers booked in with dealerships using Tjekvik’s self-service machines will be able to drop their keys off in the locker, select the required work on-screen and, when the car’s ready for pick-up, process their payment using Bumper’s fast and secure PayNow solution. 

The new system is remote and secure, meaning customers won’t have to share sensitive information over the phone. 

PayNow is low cost, with no setup fees, mobile phone fees and a low transaction cost. Accounts are easy to set up and add to your existing Tjekvik machine. 

For more information on adding PayNow to Tjekvik or about Bumper’s PayLater solution, allowing customers to split their repair bill into monthly payments, interest-free, contact our sales team at 

Bumper and Tjekvik: Integration offers secure payments on dealership self-service machines

A massive thank you to our Dealership of the Month for August 2022 – Arnold Clark Aberdeen Motorstore, who met with Bumper account manager, Ricardo Fishbourne, to receive their award this month.

The team in Aberdeen have consistently used Bumper’s PayLater to improve their customer offering, providing interest-free finance to their customers on aftersales invoices. 

In August, top performer Andrew Esson has proved how important Bumper is to his customers, helping a huge 42 customers drive away safer with their repairs split into monthly payments. 

Well done to Andrew, James and the rest of the team in Aberdeen! 

Dealership of the Month August 2022: Arnold Clark Aberdeen Motorstore 

It’s no surprise that with the cost of goods and services increasing as they have over the last few months, many of us are turning to credit cards to cover the cost.

It was reported in The Guardian the amount lumped onto credit cards was the highest it’s been in 17 years, rising by £740 million month-on-month. 13% higher than the year before. Figures released by the Bank of England show this to be the biggest year-on-year rise since October 2005. 

Spikes in inflation (to 10.1% in July), looming energy price increases and the higher cost of household goods are some of the reasons that could explain the increase in credit card usage. 

Looking at wider consumer credit, including unsecured personal loans and overdrafts, we’ve had our fastest rate of increase since March 2019, up 6.9% to £1.42 billion. 

The chief executive of Money Advice Trust, said, “Today’s figures are a further sign of the relentless pressure that household finances are under. 

“Confirmation on Friday of the huge hike in energy prices will have only added to the worries of millions of people concerned about how they will make ends meet in the coming months. For many households, however, options are already running out, with more turning to credit to cover essential needs. And for those who are already in difficulty, the situation is only set to get worse without intervention.” 

With increases everywhere you look, it’s hard not to feel helpless. Luckily, there are some small changes you can make to ease the pressure. 

Credit cards are often bad news, so unless you really know what you’re doing it's best just to stay clear. As well as high interest rates your bank might add other extra charges, such as fees for going over your credit limit. This can be bad news if your credit score’s not already at its best. 

ne solution that’s available at the moment is Buy Now Pay Later. Often associated with clothing, this popular payment option has no interest and rarely involves a lengthy application form for approval, hence its recent meteoric rise. 

Whilst Buy Now Pay Later is mostly associated with online fashion retailers, there are a growing number of companies offering this as a solution for large unexpected costs. Bumper is one such company; taking the stress out of pesky 

With Bumper, payments can be broken down into 1-9 monthly instalments*, completely interest-free. Applications are completed online in just a few clicks and a soft credit check means your application won’t affect your credit score. 

You’ll be given a maximum credit limit and a unique Bumper Code. Make a booking with one of the partner garages found on our map, and when you get there, let them know how you want to pay. Give them your code and they’ll sort the rest! 

Make any unexpected repair costs fit into your monthly budget. To start your application, enter your vehicle registration and postcode on 

*The number of repayments, the amount of credit and the need for a deposit changes depending on the partner you choose, but it will always be interest-free!

Credit card usage is the highest it’s been for 17 years

Having been a truck mechanic during the Second World War and often pictured driving Land Rovers around her Balmoral estate, it was no secret the Queen was a confident driver. 

Driving since she was 19, the Monarch was never required to have a driving licence, therefore she didn’t have to take a test or, if she wanted to, comply with the speed limit. 

With so many miles under her belt, it’s no surprise there are a few stories to have come out from the Monarch’s time behind the wheel. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite of Her Majesty’s motoring moments. 

The time she took an F1 legend for a spin 

Sometime after F1 legend, Sir Jackie Stewart won the 1973 championship, he was heading to a barbeque from Sandringham, an event that the Queen would also be attending. The pair were good friends and had met on several occasions; the Monarch even ended up attending his 80

As this was Stewart’s first time attending a royal barbeque he politely offered the queen a lift. To which she replied, ‘Absolutely not, I’ll drive, but you can navigate if you like’. 

Speaking later in a Sky Sports interview, Sir Jackie Stewart recalled how ‘she was a wonderful driver, a smooth, smooth driver’ and how ‘everything was done the right way, the indicators went up at the right time’. 

The time she gave the Saudi Prince a scare 

In 1998, when the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited Balmoral Castle, women in his country were banned from driving, so when invited for a tour of the 50,000-acre estate he was surprised to see Her Majesty jump beside him into the driver’s seat. 

Having been taken for a spin around the mountainous roads of the Scottish Highlands the Prince pleaded for her to slow down. Years later the Prince spoke to British diplomat Sir Cowper-Coles about his nervousness. Albeit said with a large grin. 

The time her Range Rover was stuck in the mud 

After the Queen’s death, many stories of Her Majesty’s encounters began to surface. One surprising story came from a man remembering his meeting with the queen when he was a teenager in 1994. 

On holiday with his family during Easter, whilst walking in the countryside, the family came across a large Range Rover stuck in the mud. When the driver wound down the window the family were extremely surprised to see the Queen sitting behind the wheel. 

Shaking her car phone at the group, the Queen said, ‘I have no connection. Can one give one a push?’ 

Reminiscing on the day years later, the man said, ‘All I remember was this tiny woman behind this enormous car. When she wound the window down to reveal her face, I thought “Oh my god”. We gave her a push and helped her out of the mud and then she drove away without saying thank you. It was quite amazing. The most surprising thing was she was on her own!” 

‘Can one give one a push?’: 3 times the Queen surprised us behind the wheel

Congratulations to the winner of the Dealership of the Month Award for July 2022: Sytner BMW & MINI Harold Wood. The team secured the award due to their efficient vehicle health check process lead by sales advisor Adam Seeley. 

Adam dedicates his mornings to helping customers through their vehicle health check, whilst offering Bumper’s Buy Now Pay Later monthly payment option. 

In addition to their process-driven success, the BMW team also provide outstanding customer service, evidenced in their 156 reviews; an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. 

When asked, the team said that their success with Bumper was due to how easy applications are to set up via the Bumper website. “What we love is, this product is so simple”, they said. 

Well done to Adam, Ben, Rachel, Tom, Aaron and Michael! 

Dealership of the Month: Adam Seeley secures award for Sytner Harold Wood	 

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Turkey? For some it’s the soulful architecture, for others it’s the food, local delicacies; Cappadocia also features a place on most people’s bucket list. Tech offshoring? Not so much. 

I previously co-founded and ran a tech start-up with my Turkish friend many eons ago. Having spent 12 months in Istanbul, I was deeply embedded in the start-up scene there which gave me great exposure to the hiring landscape beyond mainstream Europe. 

Fast forward to the year 2018 at Bumper, as we actively started growing the business, I fondly looked back on my days in Turkey and decided to see if the landscape was still viable for attracting and recruiting talent. We also actively researched other countries in Europe and finally settled on a trial run with 2 developers which fledged into well-developed strategy of scouting talent in Turkey for the following reasons: 

We started our journey in the summer of 2018 with 2 developers in Ankara to a team of 12 developers today working across our suite of product integrations and core platform as we expand into more European markets. We continue to hire and build our team in Ankara. 

Pasha Jam, our CTO, joined Bumper in 2015. With over a decade of experience working with start-ups, Pasha excels in creation and execution of technical vision and strategy to propel businesses towards commercial success. 

Now celebrating 7 years with the company, Pasha led Bumper’s tech team from two hires working remotely in Turkey to a full team of developers based in our Ankara tech centre. 

Building talented teams in Turkey 

Last week we saw the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issue a Press Release warning Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firms about misleading adverts. 

There is certainly a lot of scrutiny and discussion about the BNPL sector with controversy over recent initiatives, including BNPL for food and rapid expansion in retail propositions that often target a younger, less financially sophisticated consumer than Bumper’s target market in the automotive sector. 

Given the cost-of-living crisis it is right that firms fully explain the risks associated with BNPL agreements to ensure that consumers fully understand the potential risks versus the obvious benefits. 

The FCA clearly has concerns in these areas, and its release, unusually, takes care to provide examples of how a firm may test if adverts are clear, fair and not misleading. 

This is very helpful to ensure all BNPL firms are consistent in applying the same benchmark to advertising as we do at Bumper. 

So, what are the examples and how do we meet the standards now at Bumper: 

The risk of taking on debt that customers cannot afford to repay, the consequences of missed payments and any other adverse consequences such as the impact on the customer's credit file.

We clearly explain that a soft search is undertaken upon application, and that it does not impact a customer's credit score, but any missed payments may in the future affect their ability to borrow. (*See our up-to-date risk warning below) 

Information about when charges become payable

We have always been extremely clear about our product; keeping it simple, 0% interest and a one-off fee of £12 for the first instance of a repayment being missed by 7 days or more. That’s it, no hidden charges or penalties. 

All our advertising follows the FCA’s guidance, we do not use Social Media influencers, and ensure we approve all adverts - be they real time, static or social media posts from Bumper. 

We took the step earlier in the year (January) to recruit a Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Paul Edgecombe, who has 30+ years' experience in financial services and specific experience in Financial Promotions as SM16/17 approved by the FCA. Paul oversees our advertising and has set robust controls to ensure the standards are what you would expect from a regulated firm in advance of the forthcoming regulation of BNPL. 

The FCA has suggested all BNPL firms that are currently unregulated and operating under exemptions check with their legal teams to ensure they remain exempt from requiring an FCA authorised firm approving their advertising. We are confident that all our advertising is compliant but to prove this is the cas

ave asked for this clarification in line with the FCA’s request. We expect to hear from them very soon and will of course update all our partners once advice is received. 

For now, we welcome the FCA’s guidance and believe the forthcoming regulation in the BNPL sector will be a positive for consumers at a time when they may be most vulnerable. All our efforts this year have been made to demonstrate Bumper meets not only the FCA’s standards on Financial Promotions but all the rules and guidance they would expect from a regulated BNPL lender. 

PayLater is a form of credit not regulated by the FCA. Missed payments may impact your credit score and your ability to borrow in the future. A one-off missed payment fee (£12) may be charged. Recovering missed payments may involve using a debt collection agency, or legal action. T&Cs apply.

Alastair Shephard

Content Writer